Cloaked in Shadows
by StarHunter11
Summary: Lurking deep in the shadows of the forest, a vengeful group of Genovesans is working to take down the Ranger Corps. When Crowley is captured by them, the Rangers are intent on finding him. Keira, a teenage girl who was brought up by these Genovesans, is sent on a mission that gets her into more trouble than she had planned for when she runs into a few of our favourite Rangers.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ranger's Apprentice or its characters; John Flanagan does. I only own the plot of this fan fiction and the OCs in it.**

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_Prologue_

Tensions between the Rangers of Araluen and the Assassins of Genovesia have always run high. But then they reached a breaking point. The Rangers invaded Genovesia and killed off the assassins living there. However, their plan did not go as perfectly as planned, and a group of around fifteen of the assassins for hire escaped the slaughter in their home town, and fled into the wild forests of Celtica _(A/N: I know that Celtica doesn't have huge forests in the books, but for my purposes, it will). _

It was in the depths of one of these wild, untamed forests, that the refugees started building a base, one that would shelter them from the cold weather of the fast-approaching winter months. This initial base, mainly made out of lumber from the surrounding forest, served its purpose well during the cold months of winter. But, when the snow began to melt off the ground, and life slowly seeped back into the forest again, the ex-Genovesans' rage at the Ranger Corps returned. The spiteful group vowed to have revenge on the Rangers of Araluen for what they had done to their fellow city-men. To achieve their planned revenge, they agreed to build a mighty fortress in the place of their previous winter shelter to serve as their headquarters. However, the former assassins could not complete this task on their own, and required slaves to help with the construction of the fortress.

So, in the following months, people from the villages surrounding the forest disappeared from their homes in the dead of night, never to be heard of again. These people were then smuggled to the Genovesans' lair near the centre of the forbidding forest, to act as slaves for their purposes. In this manner, the Genovesan assassins acquired a large group of slaves to carry out all of their labour-heavy tasks included in the ambitious construction of this mighty fortress.

And so, slowly but surely, the once small lumber structure used as a base during their first winter, grew exponentially, until, after many seasons of hard labour by the over worked slaves, it was finished. The formidable fortress now stood looming in the shadows of the untamed forest surrounding it, like a snake lurking in the depths of a hole. It had been build from black stone, mined near the outskirts of the forest, and so had contracted a foreboding air around it, that pleased the Genovesans' tastes. They were happy with how their fortress had turned out, and so they then turned their sights on increasing their forces. The slaves wouldn't be any use in helping them have their revenge on the Rangers of Araluen. No, they needed people who shared their hatred for the Corps. They needed people who would gladly pick up weapons and fight with them to have their revenge. And most of all, they needed strong allies who knew the arts of fighting, tracking, and sneaking around.

The Genovesans sent out scouts to recruit these types of people from all over the country side. So, in the following months, criminals, thieves, and other outcasts flocked to the heart of the wild forest to join in the Genovesans' cause.

Some of their recruits were young; with a few of them being only children. One of these was an orphan girl of around five years old named Keira. She had been found in the forest and had been taken in by the Genovesans. Over the years, Keira was trained with the rest of the recruits in the skills of unseen movement, sword fighting, dagger throwing, and knowledge of poisons.

The Genovesans bided their time over these years when all the recruits were being trained. But after ten years of simmering anger and hatred for the Rangers, they finally decided to make their move. They vowed to destroy the Ranger Corps slowly and surely, leaving nothing behind.

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**Sorry this prologue is a little short. It is only meant to be a back story for the rest of my story. **

**Anyways, this fanfiction is going to center around my OC, Keira **(pronounced KEE-ruh),** but don't worry, the Rangers and some of John Flanagan's other characters will also be playing main roles. **

**Also, don't expect updates too often since I'm pretty busy with school and sports. You won't have to wait too long for my next chapter, though, since I'm already half done it. :)**

**Please leave a review telling me what you thought. **


	2. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Ranger's Apprentice or its characters. I only own the plot of this fan fiction and the OCs in it.**_

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_Chapter 1_

Her opponent's sword streaked towards her exposed side, but she deftly deflected it on her own sword blade, and pushed him back with a flurry of counter attacks, causing him to struggle to keep up his defense Her own sword became a flash of glinting steel, as she executed each attack with alarming speed. After her series of deflected blows, her opponent finally saw his opportunity to strike again. He stepped in closer, hoping to catch her off guard, and brought his sword down in a sweeping arc to her chest. Only, his sword never reached its destination. With a perfectly executed flick of the wrist, she disarmed her opponent, then flicked her sword up to rest at his neck, signaling that he had been defeated.

With a small groan and a glare in her direction, the man accepted his defeat. Keira sheathed her sword, and turned away towards the small crowd that had formed to watch their duel. She allowed herself a small smile at her victory; the man she had defeated had been one of the best swordsmen in the fortress. Actually, he was one of the few swordsmen in the fortress. Most of the thieves and bandits tended to specialize in knife fighting.

The spectators that had gathered began to disperse, muttering to themselves and occasionally giving a glare in Keira's direction. It was understandable that they were a little mad. Most of them had probably been friends with the man she had defeated. No one would have been cheering for the small orphan girl that was barely fifteen. Keira rolled her eyes and glared back at the spectators.

She glanced over to where her mentor, MacNeil, sat watching her from across the training grounds. MacNeil was a swordsmaster, and had been teaching Keira and some others at the fortress for as long as she could remember. He rarely spoke, and when he did, it was usually only when he was teaching. His face also always seemed to remain emotionless. However, this time, MacNeil seemed to have just the smallest trace of a smile lingering on his face, although it vanished so quickly that Keira doubted whether she had actually seen it.

She walked across the training grounds towards the spot where MacNeil sat cleaning some swords. He looked up as she arrived.

"Nice fight. You could have finished him quicker." Keira glanced at him in surprise. She had never heard him give compliments. He was right, however. She had been holding back during the duel.

"Maybe", she replied briefly, not wanting to sound too over-confident.

He grunted, and then said, "Magnus wants to see you in his office."

"What?" she asked in surprise.

He looked up at her, and for a second she saw a range of strange emotions cross his face, but they were gone before she could identify them.

"Why?" she continued. Magnus was the leader of the rebels that were planning on destroying the Rangers of Araluen. He was a formidable character, although that was kind of expected for a leader of thieves and criminals. Just the thought of a meeting with him sent shivers down Keira's spine.

"Dunno. Go ask him", MacNeil replied, and then returned to cleaning the swords.

Keira figured that their small talk was over, and turned away to head to Magnus' office, which was situated near the centre of the fortress. When she reached the edge of the training grounds, she felt as if someone was watching her, and turned around sharply. From across the sandy ground, she saw MacNeil quickly turn his head back down, but it was the slight movement that made her suspicious that he had been watching her. She gave a small shrug to herself, and continued on her way to Magnus' office.

She had only gotten a few paces, though, before a commotion near the other end of the training grounds caused her to turn around again. Emerging from the farthest end of the grounds was a small party, which from the looks of them, had just come back from a mission. This wasn't an uncommon sight in the training grounds, as it was situated on the route between the front entrance of the fortress and Magnus' office, and people coming back from missions regularly passed through. However, this party was different from the regular people coming and going from missions. People were stopping to stare, and some started to jeer and cat-call as they passed by. A few people even picked up rocks and threw them, although they were quickly stopped by some of the people belonging to the party.

Keira tried to make out why they were doing this, but she was too far away to see the members of the approaching party. As they neared the middle of the training grounds, Keira was able to make out a figure being dragged along by two members of the group. They drew nearer to the place where she stood, and she was finally able to make out the features of the man that was being dragged. He was a fairly small man, with strawberry blond hair that was smeared with dirt and a face and body that bore signs of multiple bruises. But this was not the main thing that caught Keira's eye. The man wore a Ranger's cloak. He was a Ranger of Araluen; one of the people that she had been taught to hate and despise above all else.

The people around her were taunting him as his escorts dragged him along. He made no attempt to escape his captors; instead he looked calmly around at the people yelling insults at him. The group was almost at the spot where Keira stood by then, and she moved out of the way to let them through. The Ranger's calm, sweeping gaze turned to her, and his eyes locked with hers. His eyes held a certain intensity to them, but Keira held his gaze in defiance, not willing to appear weak by looking away. She let her hatred for him show clearly on her face as his hazel eyes seemed to bore into hers. Finally, after what seemed like ages, but what was probably only a few seconds, his eyes shifted away from hers and continued scanning the crowd around her.

The group passed from sight, and Keira reminded herself that Magnus had wanted a meeting with her. She figured that the group that had just arrived with the Ranger captive would be headed straight to Magnus' office as well, so she took a side route that would take her out of their path.

When she arrived at his office, the guards told her to wait outside until he was free. She stood waiting outside in the hall for nearly an hour until the group finally emerged from his office. Keira thought that this time, the Ranger was sporting a few new bruises and cuts, although she couldn't be entirely sure. They walked passed her, dragging the Ranger behind them like before, only this time the Ranger seemed to be semi-conscious, his head slumping to the side.

The guards ushered her into the office, and then shut the door behind her. The palms of her hands were sweaty from nervousness, but she made sure to keep her face emotionless. Magnus was sitting at an elaborate desk in the centre of the room. He motioned for her to sit in the chair on the opposite side of the desk. She walked over and sat down in the cushioned seat. There was a minute of silence where Magnus studied her, making her feel uncomfortable, although she refused to show it. Then he spoke.

"You saw the Ranger I was just..._speaking_ with." It was phrased as a statement, not a question, so Keira was unsure if he wanted her to answer.

"Yes, sir," she replied, hesitantly.

"Do you know who that Ranger was?" he asked her. Keira furrowed her brow, thinking of the descriptions of the Rangers she had been taught. However, she couldn't match him to any of the ones she knew.

"No, sir," she answered.

"That was Crowley," he said bluntly.

Recognition sparked in her face. Crowley was the leader of the Rangers; the Corps commandant. Magnus had been watching her face closely and picked up on her reaction to the name.

"He is going to be..._staying with us_ for a while," he continued. There was an underlying tone that told Keira that Crowley would definitely not want to be staying.

"But, right now, I need you to do something for me." Keira looked at him, surprised.

"I need you to go to Castle Redmont and find out how they're coping with their Corps commandant disappearing. See if the King has sent out any messages to the fief. Leave immediately. Report back here as soon as you're done." He nodded for her to leave, and she walked out, closing the door behind her.

Keira was stunned at being given her first mission. It was a fairly dangerous mission as well. Redmont fief was one of the better protected fiefs with two of the most skilled rangers patrolling it. Halt O'Carrick and Will Treaty were infamous in the rebel fortress. They were two of the best Rangers in the Corps and were deeply hated by many of the criminals in the rebel group, who had encountered and been driven out of Araluen by them before.

Keira shook herself and straightened her resolve; she wasn't going to let two filthy rangers get in the way of her and her mission.

She ran to her quarters and gathered up all the supplies she'd need for the mission. Once she was ready, she wasted no time in leaving the fortress. The heavy black doors of the entrance grated open, leaving a small crack just big enough for her to slip through into the open forest beyond. Keira took a deep breath of the fresh forest air, and walked away from the dark, looming fortress, not bothering to look back.

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**Ermm... Ya.**

**Please leave a review telling me what you thought. **


	3. Chapter 2

**Thanks for the reviews guys! Sorry about the bit of a wait for this chapter; school has been pretty busy... **

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Ranger's Apprentice series or its characters. **

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_Chapter 2_

Keira had finally arrived near the outskirts of the village of Wensley. It was a fairly large sized village, which she was thankful for as she could go about without raising suspicion from the villagers.

She had set up camp in a shaded grove of trees a fair distance from the road leading up to the village. The horse she had ridden on the journey from Celtica to Redmont fief was tied up at the far edge of the grove, contenting itself by munching on the sweet grass.

Keira sat with her back against a large oak tree, absentmindedly spinning a knife; one of the tricks she had picked up from some of the rebel bandits. As she twirled the knife around her fingers, she glanced around at the forest around her. It was just after noon, and the sun was shining down between the leaves of the green trees surrounding her. It was a stark contrast between the darker shades of the forest that concealed the rebel fortress in Celtica.

The birds were chirping in the trees and small scuffles in the undergrowth alerted her to the small animals foraging there. The whole setting of the forest in the afternoon sun made her reluctant to get up from her comfortable position against the tree.

She wondered absentmindedly about what had happened at the fortress since she had left. What would they do with the Ranger; the Corps commandant that they had captured? She supposed she'd find out when she completed her mission and returned.

Her thoughts wandered to the mission that she was currently on. The best plan of action would probably be to scout around the village for a bit, and then head to Castle Redmont. Documents from the King concerning the Rangers would either be sent directly to the Rangers themselves or to the Baron. Frankly, she would rather sneak into the Castle than risk getting caught sneaking into a Ranger's cabin.

She was contemplating how to sneak into the castle when, all of a sudden, a rabbit burst from the undergrowth, and darted through the grove, startling Keira from her thoughts. She dropped the knife she had been spinning, luckily having it miss cutting her fingers as it fell onto the ground. She cursed under her breath, and picked up the knife from the ground. She had work to do, and sitting around thinking about it wasn't going to make it complete itself. Her first task was to scout around the village, not think about scouting around the village.

She stood up and started gathering her supplies from the saddlebags that had been dumped on the ground when she had started setting up her camp. Her camp consisted of a small tent which she had set up at the outskirts of the small clearing. She had thought about staying in an inn, but had rejected the idea since people might ask questions about a teenage girl travelling by herself. She preferred the forest anyways.

There was always the slight risk that someone might stumble across her camp, but she doubted it would happen. The area she had chosen had been untouched by humans when she had arrived.

She left the tent up, and stored the rest of her belongings including her sword in a small hollow in a nearby tree, covering it with a thin layer of leaves. It was a shabby job at concealment if a Ranger came by, she knew, but she hoped that her luck would win out.

At her hip, she kept a small array of knives that were covered by her cloak, just in case trouble sprang up. She felt safer with a sword, but that would attract too much suspicion in the village. Tucked into her left boot was a backup blade that all the rebel assassins and spies wore.

The hood of her dark grey cloak was pulled up to conceal her face, much like the Rangers did with theirs. Her brown hair was pulled back in a braid behind her head, and her emerald green eyes were just visible from under her hood. To any passer-by, she would look like a simple traveller. Little would they know that she was a deadly spy.

Satisfied that she was ready, she untied the horse from its grazing spot, and mounted. The ride to Wensley was around half an hour, as she was careful to conceal her tracks behind her.

She arrived in the bustling village to find that it was market day. Leaving her horse in a nearby stable, she went out into the busy market square of the town. People were shoving and jostling each other around her, but she darted through the crowd, skillfully avoiding the people around her until she reached her destination; a small food stand with a middle-aged woman selling goods behind the counter.

Keira approached the stand casually. She hoped the woman would be one of the chatty types who weren't too suspicious of strangers. Her theory proved to be correct. The woman behind the counter greeted her cheerfully as Keira arrived at the stall.

"I haven't seen you around here before. Are you new to these parts?" The shopkeeper asked her. Her voice didn't hold any suspicion, only pleasant curiosity.

Keira gave a small smile from beneath her hood. "I'm just travelling through," she replied briefly.

"Where are you headed?" the curious woman pushed on.

Keira stalled for a second, before answering. "I'm travelling to Gallica."

"Alone?"

Again, Keira was caught off guard by the question, but quickly covered smoothly. "No, I'm travelling with my family. We figured it would be safer to travel as a group." The last sentence Keira had added in, hoping to direct the conversation to the Rangers. She wondered if the woman had heard any rumours about the current situation.

"Well, there shouldn't be too much need to worry about danger on the roads of Araluen. The Rangers and knights keep us safe," the talkative shopkeeper replied.

Keira raised an eyebrow at this. "Rangers?" she inquired. Of course, she knew all too well who the Rangers were.

The shopkeeper hesitated for a second before replying, "We don't like to talk about the Rangers too much here. They're mysterious folk; best to keep your distance from them if you know what's good for you."

Keira nodded and decided not to push the conversation any further. She bought some food from the stall, and bid farewell to the shopkeeper.

The rest of her stay at the market provided her little more information on the Rangers. People seemed to be wary of the subject, although Keira felt that this was more because of fear than because of secrecy.

Satisfied that there was nothing more she could learn from the people of the bustling market village, she fetched her horse from the stables, and, after making sure no one was paying too much attention to her, left along the road back to her camp.

Her day at the market had only given her the impression that the commoners had no idea that the Rangers Corps Commandant had been kidnapped. This was a matter for the higher authorities in the kingdom. She had to find out if the Baron of Redmont Fief had received any letters alerting him to the matter. And to do that she had to sneak into the castle.


	4. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ranger's Apprentice or its characters**

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Chapter 3

The sun was slowly creeping down towards the horizon as Keira prepared for her night-time endeavor. She had returned to her camp in the woods after spending the day scouting the village. A small campfire was burning near the middle of her camp, with some food she had bought in the village cooking over it. As she waited for it to cook, Keira once again arranged the knives in her belt. It had almost become a habit for her to take them out, and then place them back in the belt that lay hidden beneath her cloak.

When she was satisfied that they would be easily accessible if a fight sprang up, she returned her attention to the food cooking over the fire. She let out a string of swear words in Gallican; another habit of hers, as she saw that the food had burnt while she had been preoccupied. She hastily removed it from the flames of the fire, and inspected it. It hadn't been entirely burnt, so she supposed it was edible.

Once she was done eating her blackened dinner, she snuffed out the fire and cleaned up the camp. Her sword would have to be left behind once again, as would the rest of her supplies. To sneak into the castle, she only needed her cloak and knives.

The sun was now only a soft glow in the darkening sky. Keira decided that it would be better to leave before total darkness set in. She had no problem with the dark; in fact she rather preferred it, but the prospect of stumbling around in the woods in the blackness while trying to make her way to Redmont Castle did not appeal to her.

Keira quickly set off on her horse towards the castle. She took a route off the main road that led her to the edge of the forest. Beyond the trees loomed the odd triangular shape of Castle Redmont. Dismounting, she loosely tied her horse a little ways away from the edge of the forest, then returned to the treeline. The castle was not too far away from her cover, although she knew that there would be guards surveying the area she had to cross. It was a moonless night, however, with clouds blocking out any signs of the stars. This was going to be too easy, she thought to herself, letting a small smile flicker across her face. With the added darkness, sneaking up to the castle would be like a piece of cake.

Moving like a shadow, she detached herself from the cover of the dense forest, and glided out into the open area leading up to the castle. Her destination was a small servants' door set into the side of the castle. She moved slowly, giving the guards no reason to be suspicious of the barely distinct shadow that seemed to float silently towards their position.

She arrived at the door with no incident, and tested the handle. It was locked, although there were no surprises with that. Digging into a small pouch on her belt, Keira brought out a small piece of metal used for picking locks. She fumbled around in the keyhole with the pick for a few agonizing minutes before she heard the distinct click of the lock clicking into place. This time when she tested the handle of the door, it swung open slowly, letting out a small creak that made her wince. Placing the lock pick back in its pouch, she gingerly swung the door closed behind her, managing to do so silently.

Looking around, she saw that she was in a small passageway. The only source of light was a small glowing line at the bottom of a door at the end of the passage. She cautiously made her way towards the door, and pushed it open silently. Now that she was in the castle, she would have to be extra careful not to be seen.

She was now inside a small room with a fireplace and a small desk. It appeared to be a sort of office, probably for one of the servants working in the castle, she thought. From there, she needed to make her way to the Baron's office. Visualizing the castle layout that she had studied, she mentally mapped the route that she would have to take. It brought her through a series of corridors, then out into the yard, and finally into the tower.

Not wanting to lose any time, she slipped out of the office and made her way down the corridor on silent feet. After a few twists and turns in the corridors, she reached the yard. A guard was standing in front of the door to the keep, and another was out patrolling the yard. It was the guard standing in front of the door that would pose the biggest challenge to Keira, as she had to get in through that door. Sneaking past the guard patrolling the yard would pose no problem as the night was already quite dark.

She was thinking about how to distract the door guard to get past, when a movement attracted her attention from across the yard. The guard that had been positioned at the door has started walking around the tower. Not believing her luck, and not wanting to miss out on the opportunity, Keira quickly drifted across the yard, blending in with the blackness of the night, and tried the handle on the door. It was unlocked, and she slipped inside, closing it softy behind her. Her heart was beating fast from adrenaline and fear of being caught.

After pausing for a minute to get her heartbeat back to normal, she swiftly ascended the spiral staircase leading up to the Baron's office. Upon reaching the top of the stairs, she was dismayed to see another guard positioned outside the door of the office. She glowered under the cowl of her cloak at the inconvenience. Peering around the corner of the wall, she looked at the guard again. His eyelids seemed to be drooping, and he seemed to be having trouble staying awake. Her glower turned into a small smirk.

Keira waited an agonizing five minutes before the guard actually closed his eyes. Darting out from her position, she brought the hilt of one of her daggers down onto the guard's head, knocking him out cold. Satisfied that he would not wake up for another few minutes, she quickly picked the lock on the door, and slipped into the Baron's office.

The office was fairly big, with a large desk strewn with papers situated in a corner of the room. A candle burned low on the desk, emitting a small beam of light that illuminated the papers. There was another door off to the far side of the room that seemed to be the source of muffled murmurings. Darting over to the desk, Keira proceeded to sift through the papers that covered the desk. She looked through tax collection sheets, letters of complaints, and various fief issues until she finally found a small letter that held the king's seal. Judging from how the letter lay near the top of the pile, she assumed it had been received recently. The seal had already been broken, and the letter lay partially opened.

Bringing it up to the candle light, she began to read;

_Dear Baron Arald, Ranger Halt, and Ranger Will,_

_This is a matter that affects you all, as well as the rest of the Ranger Corps. _

_Crowley is missing. He disappeared almost a month ago with no forewarning and no letter of explanation. I fear something terrible has happened to him. _

_Please send word if you know anything about this. _

_Signed, _

_King Duncan_

The letter was a sprawl of words, and seemed to have been written hastily. Mission halfway accomplished, she told herself. All she needed to find out now was how the Rangers were going to deal with it.

As she went to place the letter back onto the desk, a small creak caused her to spin around, dropping the letter in the process. The door to the Baron's office was slowly creeping open on its rusted hinges, letting the lantern light from the corridor spill into the room.

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**Sorry about the sort of terrible letter from the King. It was getting late when I was writing this, and I couldn't really think of how King Duncan might write it. **

**Please review and let me know what you thought! **


	5. Chapter 4

**Sorry about the delay between chapters... I've been pretty busy with school work, but now that the holidays are here, I'm having a bit more time to write. **

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Chapter 4

_From the previous chapter:_

"_As she went to place the letter back onto the desk, a small creak caused her to spin around, dropping the letter in the process. The door to the Baron's office was slowly creeping open on its rusted hinges, letting the lantern light from the corridor spill into the room."_

Cursing her bad luck, Keira hastily darted behind the door just in time to see a cowled figure slip into the room, closing the door behind him. The figure glanced around the room, seeming to be looking for something. As the figure's eyes skimmed over the spot where Keira hid, she stood stock still, not even daring to breath, hoping that her dark cloak would blend in with the shadows. Her heart was racing like that of a trapped wild animal, and she only hoped that the figure would not be able to hear its pounding.

The figure's gaze moved on from the spot where she was standing, continuing to scan the room. She silently exhaled the breath that she hadn't even realised she had been holding. Realizing that this might be her only chance to escape now that the figure's back was to her, Keira silently drew one of the knives from her belt, and crept up behind the unsuspecting figure, who was still standing in front of the door he had come through. She only wanted to incapacitate, not kill, as she had done with the guard outside the door to give herself time to escape.

She drew the hilt of her dagger up above the cowled figure's head, which wasn't very hard considering that she was actually a few inches taller, and then brought it down. Just as the hilt of the knife began its descent, the figure spun around, coming into a defensive stance. Startled by the sudden movement, Keira let her knife arm drop to her side, and, before she had the chance to attack again, a grip of iron grasped onto her hand holding the knife, forcing it from her fingers.

Not willing to give up without a fight, she desperately clung on to it, and swung her other fist towards the figure's head, feeling it land with a satisfying thud. A second later, her opponent's fist slammed into her stomach leaving her gasping for air on the ground. The knife that had been clenched in her hand was forgotten as she desperately tried to suck air into her lungs, cursing herself silently for letting her guard down. Out of instinct, she winced, expecting more blows to come. But they never did.

Instead, a hand grabbed the back of her cowled cloak, dragging her to her feet. Before she had the chance to attack again, her hands were roughly shoved into metal thumb cuffs behind her back, and her hood was thrown back off her head. All of this happened so fast that it left Keira a slight bit dazed and confused. When she recovered her senses, she had to bite her tongue to stop a torrent of swear words rushing from her mouth.

"If you want to be less conspicuous, perhaps you should consider not leaving bodies lying around in front of doors," her captor said dryly, his voice carrying the hint of a Hibernian accent.

Keira looked up at him, confirming her fears. Her captor was a Ranger. And not just any Ranger, by the looks of it; the Hibernian accent gave away the fact that this was Halt, one of the best of the Rangers in the Corps.

He was wearing the notable Ranger's cloak, fastened with a silver oak leaf. His cowl had been thrown back to reveal roughly-cut hair and a small beard with a fair number of gray hairs in it. His dark eyes bore into hers, making her feel small despite the fact that she stood taller than him.

That was the only thing that she hadn't expected of this Ranger. She had heard tales of how Halt never missed a shot, and that he could easily take out a whole party of bandits single handedly. However, now that she actually stood right in front of him, she noticed that he was fairly short and small in stature.

As she took in his appearance, he was looking at her as well. A puzzled expression crossed his face as he saw that she was just a teenage girl, but quickly vanished into his usual grim expression.

"Who are you?" Halt asked, frowning.

His only reply was a glare from Keira that packed all the hatred and anger she had at the Ranger Corps in it. The Genovesans had taught her that silence was the best option when captured and that to give away any information would result in consequences. They hadn't really specified the consequences, but Keira had guessed that they would be bad consequences and not good consequences. The Genovesans weren't exactly known for giving out promotions and pats on the back to those who told the enemy all their secrets.

After a few seconds of silence, Halt realized that no answer would be forthcoming. He sighed and grabbed her by her collar, dragging her to the other door in the room that she had noticed had been the source of some faint voices before. He knocked on the door, and, after a short pause, it was opened by yet another Ranger, this one much younger than Halt. Keira rolled her eyes and grimaced at just how bad her luck seemed to be.

"Halt...," the Ranger at the door began, but then stopped as he caught sight of Keira. "Who's this? What is she doing here? Why are you so late?" the torrent of questions seemed to tumble from the Ranger's mouth before he could stop them.

Halt rolled his eyes. "Will, how many times have I told you to only ask one question at a time? And perhaps you would consider moving out of the way so that I can get into the room."

"Oh, sorry," Will replied, moving out of the doorframe, and backing into the room.

Halt marched Keira into the room and sat her down at one of the chairs surrounding a large desk. The room seemed to be a sort of second office, presumably for the Baron, Keira figured. Unlike the desk in the other room, this one was clear of papers. The Ranger who had opened the door, Will, sat in one of the chairs on the opposite side of the desk, and beside him sat another man who was middle-aged and a little on the chubby side.

"Don't even think about attacking again," Halt warned her as she sat down. She glared back at him, and inwardly rolled her eyes. Her hands were in thumb cuffs behind her back, she couldn't reach any of her knives, and there were two Rangers in the room. Did he really think she was stupid enough to attack again?

He got up and left the room for a moment, returning with the letter from the King that she had dropped in her haste to hide. Closing the door behind himself, he went and sat down in the last remaining chair at the desk. Will seemed to be bursting with curiosity, but stayed quiet. Halt paused, letting the silence stretch for a few moments, until the other man, who Keira guessed was the Baron, interrupted it.

"Halt, what is going on here?" he asked.

"I'm not exactly sure. I walked into your office and this girl," Halt said, nodding toward Keira, "attacked me. So, perhaps that question is better asked to her."

All the eyes in the room swiveled to Keira, who unwaveringly kept her gaze glued on the table, refusing to answer any of their questioning looks.

"This letter was also on the floor," Halt said, tossing the King's letter onto the table.

The Baron opened it, and quickly skimmed over it. "This is what I called you here for. Crowley's missing," he told Halt.

Halt nodded. "And I would bet anything that this girl knows something about it," he said, turning to face Keira. "Tell us, what do you know about Crowley's disappearance? And why were you sneaking around up here?"

Keira kept her silence, although she was bursting to comment on the fact that Halt had, in fact, asked her two questions at once, going against what he had told Will only a few minutes before. She was aware of all the eyes in the room looking at her as almost a full minute of silence passed by.

Finally, Halt sighed, breaking the silence. "Guards!" he called. Two guards walked into the room, standing at attention. "Give this girl a cell down in the dungeons," he told them.

The two guards grabbed her arms, marching her out of the room.

Halt sighed again as he closed the door behind them. The mysterious girl was their one and only lead to finding Crowley, but she seemed to be just as difficult as a captured Genovesan. He would talk to her again tomorrow, he promised himself. Hopefully after a night in the dungeons she would be more willing to talk.

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**Please leave a review - they really inspire me to write more. Thanks! :D**


	6. Chapter 5

**_Sorry for the sort-of long-ish wait between chapters. I meant to write this earlier, but I just didn't really get around to it. Anyways, here's chapter 5, I hope you enjoy it. _**

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Chapter 5

The cell she had been placed in was fairly small and smelled slightly of decay. The smell had been worse when she had first arrived, but she had gotten fairly accustomed to it. In the corner of the cell was a small bed that was the sole piece of furniture in the cell. The walls were made of dull gray stone, adding to the bleakness of the cell. The only breaks in this dull, gray stone wall were the locked door and a small vent beside her bed, presumably there to let the air circulate. Noting the stench of the dungeons, the vent wasn't doing all that great of a job, Keira thought to herself.

She sighed and sat down on the hard bed, swinging her legs back and forth above the ground, and thought back to the events that had led to her being there.

First of all, she had been stupid enough to get caught by that Ranger, Halt. That had led to her being brought down to the dungeons, where the guards had removed all her weapons and thrown her in the cell. She was especially mad about this, since her one and only lock pick had been in a pouch on her weapons belt, which was now gone. She had then spent the night in the cell, and the following day Halt had tried to question her again. Sticking to her silence, Halt had not been able to get a single word out of Keira, which had caused him to eventually give up in frustration. She was now back in the wretched cell, bored out of her mind.

Giving another sigh of frustration, Keira kicked the wall next to her with as much force as possible, trying to escape the overwhelming boredom of her cell. She yelped as her foot exploded with pain from the impact.

After the pain had subsided, Keira lay on the bed and looked up at the dull gray ceiling. Thoughts of the fresh, green forest and the freedom of running wild through a grove of leafy trees wandered through her mind, as she tried to escape the oppressive monotony of her cell. Suddenly, a loud sneeze startled her out of her thoughts and caused her to jolt up.

"Who's there?" Keira asked suspiciously. Her eyes darted around the room, looking for the source of the sneeze, but her cell was as empty as it had always been.

"Uhh... I am?" she heard a faint young female voice say hesitatingly.

Keira frowned. The voice had sounded like it had come from the vent in the wall. Walking over to the vent she bent down and spoke into it.

"Who are you? And where are you?" Her voice carried a trace of suspicion in it again.

"Wait, hold up. You can't just ask me who _I_ am. I don't know who _you_ are, and I certainly have no clue where you are speaking to me from," the voice replied. Despite herself, Keira managed a small smile. There was something in this reply that reminded her a little of herself.

Still smiling, Keira replied, "Well, I just happen to be locked in a cell in your castle's dungeons, speaking to you through an air vent."

"An air vent? I thought these things were just for decoration. Although now that you mention it, an air vent would certainly be welcome in here - the dust buildup is just terrible!" the voice hesitated a moment before continuing, "Wait, you're in the dungeons? I never knew the dungeons were under here!"

Keira raised an eyebrow. "Under where? Where are you?"

"A passage," the voice replied vaguely.

"A _passage_," Keira said, unimpressed by the vagueness. "You're just in...a _passage_."

"Well, it's kind of a secret passage..."

"This castle has secret passages?" Keira replied incredulously.

"Well...yes. But not many people know about them, or else they wouldn't really be secret."

Keira sighed. "Look, I don't even know who you are," she told the voice, changing the topic.

"I don't know who you are either," the voice replied.

Exasperated, Keira replied, "How about you tell me who you are, and then I might tell you who I am."

"You _might_ tell me who you are?" the voice said.

"Yep."

"Okay..," the voice said, giving in. "I'm Nayomi. I'm part of the ward here at the castle."

"The ward?" Keira questioned.

"It's a sort of an orphanage in the castle," Nayomi explained, then went on to further describe the ward worked and how each orphan got assigned to be an apprentice on Choosing Day.

Keira frowned. "So you're an orphan. How old are you?"

"I just turned fifteen," Nayomi said proudly.

"Which means you're going to be apprenticed this year," Keira pointed out.

"Yes...I suppose so" Nayomi said dejectedly.

"Is that a bad thing?"

"I suppose not, it's just that I'm not sure who I'm going to be apprenticed to," Nayomi explained.

Keira was silent for a few moments, unsure of how to respond.

Nayomi butted in before the silence got too long. "How old are you?" she asked, repeating Keira's previous question.

"I _think_ I'm fifteen..." Keira replied.

"You _think_? How can you _think_ you're fifteen?"

Keira sighed. "I'm an orphan too. I was found in the forest when I was young, I don't even remember who my parents were. I'm just guessing that I'm around fifteen."

"Oh... And who exactly are you?"

"I'm Keira," she replied briefly.

"Annnnd, you're locked up in the dungeons..." Nayomi paused. "_Why_ are you locked up in the dungeons?"

"Errr... well that's a long story. Let's just say I got into trouble with some Rangers."

"You're _fifteen_ and you got into trouble with some Rangers," Nayomi said incredulously. "Care to explain?"

Keira frowned, assessing the situation. Nayomi seemed friendly, and Keira wanted to trust her, but the trained assassin part of her told her to be suspicious. Nayomi could always be a spy sent by the Rangers to collect information from her. She decided to be blunt to Nayomi.

"I'm sorry...but I can't tell you. I don't know if you're just here to gain information for Halt and the Rangers."

"Oh...okay," Nayomi replied.

Not wanting the conversation to end and to return to the monotony of her cell, Keira changed the subject. "What about the outside world? What do you do in the ward?"

"In the ward?" Nayomi laughed. "Pretty much nothing. That's why I go out exploring the castle's secret passages. They are really quite helpful for listening in on private conversations," she said a-matter-of-factly.

"Oh, really?" Keira replied, chuckling at the thought of using secret passageways to snoop around.

"Yep," Nayomi said proudly. "Just a few days ago I was snooping around Halt and Pauline's room and overheard Pauline trying to teach Halt how to speak Gallican. I don't think it worked. I've never heard such a bad Gallican accent in my life. Mind you, my Gallican isn't all that great either..."

"Hold up," Keira said, a small smirk crossing her face as a brilliant idea formed in her mind. "You said Halt was bad at Gallican?"

"Yes," Nayomi said, a little confused at what Keira was getting at.

A smirk still on her face, Keira explained her idea to Nayomi through the vent. When she was done, she could hear small snorts of laughter coming from Nayomi's side of the vent. "What do you think?" Keira asked.

"Brilliant, absolutely brilliant," Nayomi replied through fits of laughter.

Their conversation continued for quite some time with Nayomi telling Keira all about life at the castle. Eventually, though, the time came for Nayomi to return to the ward.

"Will you come talk to me again?" Keira asked. "I think I might go insane due to boredom in this cell if you don't..."

Nayomi laughed. "Of course. The real question is: will you still be in this cell tomorrow? How long could they possibly keep you in there?"

"Oh, I'll still be here," Keira replied dryly. "I could be in here a _long_ time." She could almost feel Nayomi's curiosity through the wall that separated them, but Nayomi didn't ask any questions about why she was staying.

"Ok then, I'd better be going," Nayomi said. Keira heard some muffled shuffling through the vent as Nayomi moved away along the secret passage.

Keira smiled as she went and sat down on the bed; all the previous monotony of her imprisonment had gone. She felt like she had made a new friendship with Nayomi. Actually, she felt like she had made her first friendship - she had never really had any friends back at the fortress, she realized. Still smiling, she lay down and stared up at the gray ceiling which didn't seem so dull and boring anymore.

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**If you have any constructive criticism, feedback, or anything that will inspire me to write more, please post it in a review. Thanks. :) Also, just a heads-up that the next chapter will hopefully contain much humor in it. **


	7. Chapter 6

**Thank you for all your reviews on the previous chapter! :) **

**I'm sorry for making you guys wait for so long between updates, but I had a bit of writer's block while writing this. I still really don't like this chapter, but I decided to post it anyways. I tried to add humor but failed and so gave up halfway through... I also tried to make Halt more intimidating... and that didn't work either. :(**

**So...I hope this chapter kinda makes sense. Just on a side note, there's a bit of French in here, but I added English translations in italicized brackets beside it. **

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Chapter 6

Keira woke suddenly to the sound of the cell door being opened. She guessed that it had only been a few hours since she had talked to Nayomi, but she wasn't entirely sure. Dim light streamed in from the corridor, partially illuminating her cell before two guards walked in and escorted her out into the hall. They continued to escort her all the way up to Halt's office, where he had questioned her the previous day.

The guards knocked on the door, and, after a short pause, the young ranger named Will opened it. The guards left, closing the door behind them and Keira was seated in the chair on the opposite side of the desk from the two Rangers. The room was silent as Halt and Will both looked at her, trying to figure out this mysterious girl who held information that they needed.

Keira was unfazed by this silence as she regarded the two Rangers staring at her. Halt was tapping his chin thoughtfully as his brow furrowed, whereas Will was leaning back in his chair, strumming his fingers on the desk. After about a minute of this, Keira decided to put her plan into action.

She cleared her throat, and said, "Pourquoi est-ce que vous me gardez ici?" (_Why are you keeping me here?)_

Halt raised an eyebrow at this unexpected turn of events. Will looked confused and turned to Halt.

"What did she say?" Will asked.

"She asked why we were keeping her here," Halt explained, then turned to Keira, a frown on his face. "Don't you speak Araluen?"

She remained silent, letting a confused look pass over her face, not willing to fall for his trap.

Halt sighed and began to phrase his question in Gallican. "Est-ce que tu parles Araluen? (_Do you speak Araluen_?)" he repeated, speaking slowly to try to make sure he got the wording right.

"Non (_no_)", Keira replied, as if it was obvious that she didn't.

Halt frowned at this. It was odd that someone would travel to Araluen, but only speak Gallican. It was an improvement on her complete silence the previous day, although it annoyed him that he would have to do this whole interrogation in Gallican.

His voice dropped into a more menacing tone as he began, "Qu'est-ce que vous faites dans le bureau de le Baron? (_What are you doing in the Baron's office?_)"

Keira tried to keep her smile concealed behind her emotionless face as she replied, "Je ne suis pas dans le bureau de le Baron (_I am not in the Baron's office_)..."

Halt's frown increased as he realized his grammar mistake. He took a moment to think of the right words, before replying haltingly, "Je voulais dire; Que faisiez-vous dans le bureau de le Baron? (_I meant to say; what were you doing in the Baron's office?_)"

"Ah. Je partais quand vous êtes entré… (_Oh. I was leaving when you came in_)," Keira replied, avoiding his question.

Halt realized this, and said dryly, "Et pourquoi avez-vous... (_And why were you_...)" he paused, unsure of the translation for what he wanted say. "... regardé les papiers sur le bureau? Particulièrement, cette lettre ici _(...looking at the papers on the desk? Particularly, this one here_. )," he said, taking out the letter that she had dropped on the floor.

"Cette lettre? Je n'ai jamais vu cette lettre ici. Je ne sais pas d'où vous avez obtenu ça. Pourquoi supposez-vous que j'ai regarde cette lettre? (_This letter? I've never seen this letter. I do not know where you got it. Why do you think that I was looking at it?)"_ Keira replied quickly, letter her words jumble together.

Halt's brow creased as he tried to make out what she was saying.

"I'm going to get Pauline," he grumbled in resignation, giving up on trying to use his shabby Gallican skills.

Will, whose Gallican skills were virtually nonexistent and had therefore given up on trying to understand what they had been saying, just shrugged his shoulders in consent.

Halt left, leaving the two of them in silence, before Keira broke it after a minute.

"I don't understand why he's going to get Pauline. His Gallican really wasn't all that bad..." she said to Will.

Will looked at her shocked. "You _do_ speak Araluen!"

"Uhh...yeah..."

Will's face remained in a shocked expression for a few more seconds before the corners of his mouth twitched upwards in a smile. A few seconds later, he had to muffle his snorts of laughter behind his hand.

Halt chose this perfect moment to walk in and stop to stare at his former apprentice.

"I...I think I'll go wait outside," Will said between snorts of laughter, excusing himself from the room.

Pauline, who had come in behind Halt, raised an eyebrow at this behaviour, but said nothing.

Halt, who was a little confused by Will's sudden exit, said to Pauline, "I hope you can take it from here."

"Of course I can," Pauline replied softly, giving him a convincing smile. With that, Halt left the room, leaving Keira with Pauline.

Pauline sat down gracefully in the high-backed chair and focused her gaze on Keira. "As much as I do appreciate you helping my husband practice his Gallican, this is a serious matter and I would prefer if you were to speak Araluen," she said.

"Ok." Keira wasn't sure how Pauline knew she could speak Araluen, but she guessed it had something to do with being a diplomat and reading people.

"Very well then," Pauline said smoothly. "The first thing I shall need to know is your name."

"Are names really all that important?"

"To me, they are," Pauline replied evenly.

"Well, I would prefer to keep my identity to myself," Keira said.

Pauline looked Keira in the eyes, holding her gaze steady until Keira was finally forced to look away. Pauline kept looking at Keira for a few more seconds before she finally spoke.

"I am here to help you, not to hurt you. I know that you broke into the Baron's study and tried to steal an important document."

"I actually wasn't trying to _steal_ the document, I only wanted to look at it," Keira muttered.

Pauline continued, unfazed by the interruption. "I also know that you have information concerning the disappearance of the Ranger Corps Commandant, Crowley. However, you are only a girl, and so will be willing to forgive your mistakes if you only agree to help us," she explained.

Pauline waited patiently as Keira considered her offer. Keira felt as if she could trust this woman, however she could not get rid of her primary instinct to not give away any information. She feared both the Rangers as well as what the rebels at the fortress might do if they found out that she had leaked information.

After a while, she finally spoke. "My name is Keira. I cannot tell you anything else."

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**I hope this story is making sense to everyone so far. I'll _try_ to make Halt more intimidating in future chapters, it's just sort of hard for me to write interrogation scenes with him in it. **

**Also, if there were any mistakes with my French...I'm sorry. **


	8. Chapter 7

**Gahh! I'm so sorry for disappearing for such a long time! Hopefully now that I'm not as busy, I'll be able to update more often, though. :)**

Chapter 7

Keira was back in her cell, sitting on the cold stone floor. Several days had passed since she had last been outside before breaking into the Baron's office, and she was beginning to long for the freedom and freshness of the outdoors. She wished she was sitting in the grass or against a tree instead of the cold gray floor of her cell.

During the countless hours that she had been sitting there, Keira had become increasingly bored and sad. She picked up one of the small stones that were lying on the floor, and started bouncing it off the wall and then catching it again. This small movement took away a small portion of her boredom, but still left her longing to be able to run free outside.

After a little while, a soft knocking brought her back to her senses. It was a rhythm of two short knocks, a pause, and then another knock. This was the signal that Keira and Nayomi had devised in order for Nayomi to tell Keira that she was in the secret passage above her cell.

Keira went over and returned the signal next to the air vent.

"Oh good, you're here," Nayomi said through the vent.

"Of course I'm here; where else would I be?"

Nayomi paused a moment to think. "I suppose you might have escaped..."

Keira snorted. If there had been any way to escape, she would have been gone long ago. "Nope... still here in this four walled cell... with nothing to look at expect gray stone...and nothing to do except sleep. This is really just _great_. "

Keira heard soft laughter coming from Nayomi's side of the vent. "It can't be _that_ bad, can it?"

"Yes it can," Keira snapped back, before realizing what she was saying. Shaking her head, she said, "I'm sorry. I think that being locked up is making me crankier than usual."

There was a slight pause in their conversation before Nayomi decided to change the subject. "Well if you're so bored, maybe you could tell me what you did to get stuck in the castle dungeons?" Keira pursed her lips at this. She did not want to give the Rangers any information at all. So far, she had held off on telling Nayomi anything.

Without pausing for a breath, Nayomi continued on, "did you murder someone? Or steal someone's money? Or maybe you ganged up with some bandits to pillage one of the nearby villages!"

"Nope," Keira replied, smiling slightly.

"Well you said before that you had gotten into some trouble with the Rangers... So what did you do? Did you try to sneak into their cabin and steal some coffee? If you did that, I would really not advise you to do it again. I've heard that Rangers are quite partial to their coffee..."

"Of course I didn't do that!" The idea was so preposterous that Keira let out a soft chuckle.

"Aww, come on! What _did_ you do?!"

Keira took in a deep breath, and, in that instant, came to the decision to tell Nayomi the bare details of it. "Well, you see," she began, "I was sent on a mission to retrieve..._some information_...from Redmont. To do this, I had to sneak into the Baron's study, and I was caught. Now they are keeping me here because I have information that they need."

"That's all? Why don't you just give them the information?" Nayomi asked incredulously.

Keira sighed. "It's not that simple. I can't tell them. My masters are not forgiving of mistakes." This was true, and Keira had experienced their wrath on more than one occasion. There had been one time where she had refused to go to training when she had been sick. That first time had cost her five lashes. The second was when she had played a harmless prank on some boys that had been tormenting her. At least, she had thought it to be harmless. The boys who had gotten the bucket of waste water dumped on their heads had thought otherwise, and had told one of their trainers about it. That time it had cost her ten lashes. These had left faint scars on her back, physical reminders of why she should always obey her masters.

"Your masters? What masters?" Nayomi asked with her seemingly undying curiosity.

"The people who found me as an orphan..."

"Who are..." Nayomi pressed on.

Keira shook her head. "I ... I can't tell you, I've already said too much. I'm sorry."

"Surely the Baron or even the Rangers can help you, can't they?"

Keira shifted uncomfortably. "I've been brought up to view the Rangers as my enemies... They _are_ my enemies. And therefore, I am their enemy." It actually surprised Keira that the Rangers hadn't tortured her for the information yet. She had thought that they would have been unforgiving and cruel.

"If you sided with them, they wouldn't be your enemy."

"I wish it were that simple," Keira said, sighing. There was a silence that dragged for a full few minutes before Keira broke it. "Nayomi? Are you still there?"

"Of course I am. I'm just..._thinking_."

Puzzled, Keira let the silence drag on for a while longer. This time, it was interrupted by the sound of metal clinking in the air vent. She stretched her fingers into the vent to reach the small metal object that had dropped down from above.

"Once you're out of the dungeon, turn to the left, go several paces and pull back the painting of the knight. That will get you into this passage," Nayomi said.

Keira was utterly confused. "Wha-what?" Then she pulled her hand back out of the vent, clutched in it the small metal object - a lock pick. "You're helping me escape? Why? I'm an enemy of your kingdom!"

"I know. But I trust you."

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**I'm sorry that that chapter was a little short and boring. The next chapter should be more exciting!**

**Also, if anyone has any tips or feedback for me to improve my writing, I'd be happy to hear them. :)**


	9. Chapter 8

**Thanks for all your reviews on the last chapter! They really made my day. :) **

**And now, onward to the next chapter! **

Chapter 8

Keira held the lock pick reverently in her hand, still in shock. "Thank you," she whispered into the vent. This lock pick was her golden key to escape. She still couldn't believe it. She had just assumed that she would have to stay in that cold, dark cell until she went insane. Her heart was already racing with adrenaline, and she hadn't even started her escape.

After she had gotten over the initial shock, Keira began to think rationally again. It wouldn't be easy to escape even with a lock pick. There were still the guards that patrolled the halls outside her cell, and she could never know when someone would check in on her in her cell. She had already memorized the guards' rotational cycle. There were two guards positioned at the entrance to the dungeons, and one of them would get up and do a circuit around all the cells about every ten minutes.

Biting her lip, Keira peered out of the small window in her door out into the hallway. The hallway was not very well lit, which she was glad of, as it would make her escape much easier. The hall was empty at the moment, but Keira wasn't sure when the guard had last done his rotation. It would be safer to wait until he walked past before trying to pick the lock.

Keira didn't have to wait very long before she heard the distinct sound of the guard's footsteps in the hall. The footsteps drew closer, and then faded away as the guard continued down the hall. Keira knew he wouldn't be coming back for a while; this was her chance.

Carefully holding the lock pick in her hand so as not to drop, she reached her arm out between the bars of the window. There was no lock on the inside of the cell, so she would have to break the one on the outside. After a few agonizing minutes of fiddling around with the lock, she heard a satisfying click as it unlocked.

Not daring to breath, she slowly eased the door open. She didn't want to wait until the guard came by again in case he saw that the door was unlocked. This would be her one and only chance. Keira slipped out into the hall, and then closed the door just as slowly and quietly as before. On silent feet, she crept down the hall towards the entrance.

About halfway down the hall, two torches illuminated a doorway off to the side. It was the light that these torches brought that posed a challenge to Keira. There were no shadows along the walls here as there had been in the rest of the hall. To get past this part, she would be exposed in the light. Keira took her first step into the edges of the torch light, staying close to the wall.

All of a sudden, she heard the guard's footsteps coming closer again! He must have heard some noise and was walking around again to see what it was. Keira quickly drew back into the door frame, and franticly tested the handle to see if it was locked. It wasn't, so she quickly slipped inside.

The room seemed to be some sort of storage closet for the dungeons. There were shelves of various items all stacked and labeled in neat rows with labels. Keira peered at one of the labels, and, in the dim lighting, was able to make out the number 40 in neat print. She frowned, trying to figure out what it meant. Then it dawned on her. This must be the storage room for all the prisoners' possessions! Her cell had been number 11, so she made her way down the shelves until she got to the one with the neatly printed 11 on it. And, sure enough, there was her cloak and belt of knives.

Keira could hardly believe her luck. What were the chances that she would stumble upon the room with all of her things? She donned her cloak, and pulled the cowl up to hide her face. From the shadows under the cowl, she let out a small smile at her success, but then reminded herself that she wasn't out of the castle yet.

She crept back to the door of the room, and cautiously opened it out into the hall. The guard had long since passed, and the hallway was empty once again. Keira closed the door behind her, and made her way down to the end of the hall with no incident. Now came the hard part of sneaking past the guards.

Keira waited, safely hidden in one of the many dark shadows. After several minutes, one of the two guards got up, and started his round, passing just a few feet away from where she stood. Keira waited for him to reach the end of the hall, then picked up a small stone and threw in down the adjoining hall. The remaining guard on duty went on high alert.

Keira picked up another stone and threw it after the previous. This time, the guard got up and left his position to go investigate the noise. As he passed by Keira, she heard him grumble under his breath. "Filthy rats...good for nothing rodents..."

Not wanting to miss her opportunity to escape, Keira slipped out of the dungeons, and into the halls of the main castle. Nayomi had told her to go to the left, and then find the secret passage behind the painting of the knight. Following these instructions, Keira found the painting after a minute. She pushed it to the side to reveal the small hole behind. She crawled in, and pushed the painting back to its original spot. It was only then that she realized her heart had been beating twice as fast as usual. She leaned against the wall of the passage and tried to slow it back down to its normal pace.

"Thank goodness! I was beginning to think that you might have been caught!" a voice said suddenly from behind her.

"Gahh!" Keira said, startled. She hadn't realized that Nayomi had been right behind her in the passage. "Don't do that! You scared me!" So much for trying to slow down my heart rate, Keira thought to herself dryly.

"Oh. Sorry," Nayomi replied in a whisper.

Keira managed to turn herself around in the cramped passageway, so that she was facing Nayomi. The passageway was surprisingly well-lit, as Keira saw that there were small holes along the passage that were bringing in light from other rooms. This light allowed her to clearly see the orphan girl who had helped her escape.

Nayomi was fairly small, with short ginger hair, and a scattering of freckles covering her face, in particular her nose.

"Uh...Hi," Keira said awkwardly. She didn't really know what else to say now that she and Nayomi were face-to-face.

Nayomi smiled at her, causing small dimples to appear in her cheeks. "Come on, we'd better get you out of here before someone finds out that you're missing," she said, ushering for Keira to follow her.

Nayomi led her down the small passage, making a few twists and turns along the way. The passage was really small, and both of the girls had to crawl on their hands and knees. After what seemed like forever to Keira, Nayomi finally stopped in front of her.

"This way will take you along the shortest route to get out of the castle." Nayomi then went on to explain how exactly to get out. She even drew up a small diagram for Keira to see in the dust that had collected on the floor.

Once she was satisfied that she would be able to make her way out with no issue, Keira nodded her thanks to Nayomi. "I still don't really understand why you're helping me escape."

"Because you're a friend, of course. Just remember; the Rangers are only your enemy if you make them your enemy. Also, please _try_ not to get into any more trouble. And don't mention to anyone that I helped you escape, or I'm screwed."

"I won't," Keira promised. With that, Keira carefully pulled back the painting that was hiding the exit to the passageway. She climbed out, and glanced back at Nayomi, who smiled reassuringly at her. Then Keira was off again, winding her way through the maze of corridors while following Nayomi's instructions on how to get out. She didn't run into anyone in the halls, and, in what seemed like no time, she was back at the small servant's door in the side of the castle.

She cautiously inched it open, and was thankful to see that it was night time. The cover of darkness would mask her escape across the open field leading up to the forest, just as it had when she had broken into the castle.

Keira slipped out into the cold night air, and closed the door shut behind her. With the help of her cloak, she moved like a shadow across the open stretch of land. Finally, she reached the safety of the trees.

Keira breathed a sigh of relief, and looked back at Castle Redmont. Looking at it from a distance it didn't seem very menacing; in fact, it seemed somewhat pretty, poised at the top of the hill as it was. Shaking her head, Keira turned away from the castle, and withdrew into the forest. For the first time since entering the castle, she felt free. The sense of freedom grew in her, and, before she knew it, she was running through the trees, and away from Castle Redmont.


	10. Chapter 9

**Yayy! A new chapter! **

**I'm sorry that this one isn't very exciting or anything, but I felt the need to add it in. **

Chapter 9

The birds were singing their morning songs as Keira walked through the forest back to her camp. After she had escaped from the castle, she had gotten as far away as she could in the darkness of the night, and then waited until the sun rose to continue on. The early morning was fairly chilly, but she had her cloak on, so it did not bother her. The fresh air helped her regain her senses after being locked up in the stale dungeon. She was aware of all the sights and sounds around her as she made her way through the forest.

After walking for a little while, Keira came to the road the led out of the town of Wensley. Her camp was a little ways on the other side of the road, so, after making sure that there were no people in sight, she crossed onto the other side. Keira finally reached her former camp, and happily saw that it had remained untouched. Checking in the small hollow of the tree, she saw that all of her things including her sword were still in place.

Then she glanced around, looking for her horse. Keira looked around the whole clearing, but her horse was not to be found.

"Dammit," she cursed quietly. Her horse must have somehow frayed off the rope that had tied it to the tree. Perhaps it was for the better, as the horse had had no access to anything other than the grass while it had been tied up. However, without a horse, Keira would travel three times as slowly, and would be twice as tired.

Keira dared not go back to Wensley and steal a horse since the Rangers had most likely figured out that she had escaped by now, and were no doubt out looking for her. _Perhaps I'll be able to steal one at the next town down the road_, Keira thought to herself. That did mean walking for a few days, though, which made her a little frustrated. If she didn't get back to Celtica soon, then people would start wondering what had took her so long.

Sighing, she packed up all of her things into a travel bag, and set out. Keira stayed off the road, in case anyone who was looking for her rode by. Instead, she kept a fair distance off to the side of the road, walking through open forest. Every once in a while, she would turn back to the road to make sure that she had not strayed too far off course. She tried to keep her tracks hidden, although she knew that she was not quite as skilled as a Ranger, and she only hoped that it would hold them off for long enough if they go onto her trail.

The sun was near its peak when Keira finally decided to stop for a break. She sat down next to a cold stream and used the water to refresh herself. The stream was positioned right next to a vast stretch of open field with grassy hills that she would have to cross over next. Keira had considered skirting around it, but her pace was already too slow as it was.

She looked out at the grassy field, and, in the distance, she was able to make out a small speck of brown. However, even with straining her eyes to see, she couldn't make out what it was. Keira cautiously drew closer to it, all too aware that she was out in the open and anyone coming by would be able to see her.

Eventually, she was able to make out the distinct outline of a horse. Keira closed the remaining distance, and saw that it was a young white stallion with large brown and black patches. She couldn't really believe her luck; if she was able to capture and ride this horse, she would be able to travel much faster.

The stallion was grazing on the abundant grass in the field, seemingly unperturbed by her presence. Keira, who was still a few meters away from him, cautiously stepped forward, her arm outstretched. She wasn't really sure how she'd be able to catch him or ride him, as she had lost the saddle of her previous horse, and she had no rope or anything. She quickly dismissed the thoughts to the back of her mind, though, and promised to find a solution later. For now, all she had to do was make the horse comfortable with her.

When her hand was only a foot away, the stallion abruptly took a few steps back and then continued his grazing as if nothing had happened. Keira tried again, only to have the same result. She put her hands on her hips, frowning. She decided to try once more, moving towards the white stallion faster. This time, when she was only a few inches from touching the stallion, he pranced backwards, tossing his head and neighing.

Keira was beginning to get frustrated and again approached the horse, only to have him prance backwards and neigh again. It seemed to her almost as if the horse was laughing at her futile efforts. She huffed and crossed her arms, glaring at the horse. Their eyes were locked in a staring match for a few seconds before Keira broke it by looking away. The horse's eyes had held an intensity to them but also an seeming intelligence and a humorous twinkle.

The teenage girl decided to try once more to reach out and touch the stallion. Slowly, she inched her hand forwards, and came so close that she should almost feel the hairs on his head. However, as before, the stallion pranced backwards letting out a loud whinny.

This time, Keira was sure that the stallion was laughing at her. "Would you stop it! This isn't funny!" she said crossly. Her only answer was in another playful whinny from the horse.

Unable to stand it anymore, Keira gave up, and turned away towards the forest. She would just have to walk the rest of the way, she concluded.

After trekking through the forest for several minutes, she was startled by a soft nudge at her shoulder. Surprised, she spun around, ready to fight whoever was there. Keira blinked; confused as she saw that there, standing right behind her was the white stallion.

She was utterly confused, and the only words that seemed to escape her mouth were, "Uhh... Hello?"

The stallion snorted at her and then nudged her again, seeming to be apologizing for laughing at her before. Keira reached out and softly stroked his nose. The stallion shied away a little, but allowed her to continue.

"What am I going to do with you?" she murmed. She looked back at her trail and saw that the stallion's hoof prints had left fairly noticeable marks in the ground. "The Ranger's are going to have no trouble tracking me now. Perhaps it would be better if you didn't come along," she said. Upon hearing this, the stallion lowered his head and flicked his ears in her direction. Keira felt sad about having to leave the horse behind, but then straightened her resolve by promising that she would be able to steal another horse in the next village.

Once again, she turned away from the horse, and started to walk away. After a minute of walking, Keira began to miss the company of the intelligent horse, and looked back the way she had come to see that he was still there, looking dejectedly back at her.

Perhaps it was the look on the stallion's face, or maybe it was her need for companionship, Keira would never know. Whichever one it was, Keira soon found herself running back the way she had come, and this time starting out with the stallion walking beside her.

She wasn't entirely sure why, but this sense of companionship made her feel happy for the first time that day. All she had to do now was find a name for this horse.

**Any ideas for names for the horse would be greatly appreciated! You can leave me a PM or a review with any possible suggestions that you have. Thanks! **


	11. Chapter 10

**Gahhh! I'm so sorry for not updating for a few weeks! School is getting really busy, and now I have a lot of other things that I'm doing as well that make it really hard to find time to write.**

**Anyways, I've been getting a lot of reviews about why MacNeil was helping the Genovesans... So, hopefully this chapter should explain that. This is going to take place back at the fortress and in MacNeil's point of view, but next chapter will pick up from where the previous chapter left off from Keira's POV. **

Chapter 10

(MacNeil's POV)

MacNeil was pacing back and forth in his room, worry and concern written all over his features. If anyone else had been with him, he would have kept his emotions from showing on his face, but since he was alone, he let them through. It had been over a week since she had gone, and he was really starting to worry about what Magnus had done.

Finally, after several more minutes of pacing, he decided to go and talk to Magnus. His footsteps echoed as he walked down the halls of the fortress. The few people he passed looked away as he walked by. MacNeil had never actually tried to talk to any of them, so he was only known as the one who taught sword fighting.

When he reached the doors that led to Magnus' office, he was stopped by the two guards standing by the door. One of the guards had an abnormally large nose, and was missing a few teeth. The other guard was small in stature with small, beady eyes, and a pointed chin that stuck out.

"What do ya want?" the first guard with the large nose asked rudely.

"I want to talk to Magnus," MacNeil replied through gritted teeth. These were the normal guards that stood outside Magnus' office, and each time he talked with them, they never failed to piss him off.

"I'm sorry, but Magnus ain't taking no visitors at the mome'nt. Ain't that right, Presley?" the first guard said, nudging the other guard.

"Ai, tha's right Nelson. No visit'rs. Tha's what 'e told us," the smaller guard said.

"Is that so? Well perhaps you two will have to make an exception, just this time," MacNeil said, his hand drifting down to the sword at his hip. The two guards noticed the movement, and smaller of the two gulped.

"Well, I s'pose we could... As long as it's very important," the smaller guard said.

"Ah, yes, it's very important and urgent," MacNeil replied. He knew that guards hadn't actually been told not to let in any visitors, they just always liked being difficult.

"Bu'... Wha' is it then?" the first guard whined.

"Important business. Nothing that you should be sticking your large nose into."

The guard glowered, taken aback at having his nose insulted.

"Fine. I suppose we could let you in them. Bu' you'll have ta leave yer weapons with us," the smaller guard said, trying to regain some of his authority.

Sighing, MacNeil unbuckled his sword from around his waist and handed in to the guards. They then ushered him inside, and closed the door behind him.

Magnus was at a large desk in front of MacNeil, with papers strewn across the length of it. He looked up from what he had been reading when MacNeil stepped inside, then returned to looking back down at the desk, seemingly uninterested in MacNeil. MacNeil already knew this tactic at trying to make him feel inferior, and so walked right up to Magnus' desk and tore the paper he had been reading from his grasp. At this Magnus looked up at him, and spoke.

"You forget your place, MacNeil. You would not want anything to happen to _her_, now would you?"

MacNeil scowled at this, but returned the paper to Magnus' desk and stepped back. "What have you done with her?" he said, still scowling.

"Ah. I knew you would come chasing after me sooner or later to ask." He paused before continuing on, "You need not worry, she's not in any danger."

"Where is she?" MacNeil asked, glaring at him.

"That isn't really any of your business, MacNeil."

"Where is she?" he asked again, his voice rising in volume as he tried to keep his anger inside of him.

Magnus sighed. "If you _really_ must know, I sent her out on a small mission. Nothing dangerous, I'll have you know. Just to get me some information."

"You _what_?! You sent her out on a mission? Making her your personal spy was not part of our agreement!"

Magus abruptly stood up, anger flashing in his eyes. When he spoke, his voice dropped to a lower and more menacing pitch. "I'll have you know that I could have done _much_ worse to her. Would you rather that she be a lowly slave, being beaten every time she did something wrong? Or how about an assassin; trained so that she would not feel any emotion. A bloodthirsty killer would be all that she would be. I could do it, you know. Breaking someone so young isn't very hard. I'm sure that I could arrange to have her put through the assassin training and she'd be ready in a few months." He paused for a moment before continuing, this time in a more thoughtful tone. "Ah, yes, perhaps that isn't such a bad idea. My own personal assassin; that would be a nice place for her..."

MacNeil stood stock still, hiding his emotions behind his blank face. "No," he said, his voice quavering on the one word.

"What was that?" Magnus asked, a smirk on his face.

"I said no."

"Why not? I think it would be a great idea." Magnus said, still smirking

MacNeil realised that he wasn't going to let it go until he begged him to. He knew Magnus well enough to know the mind games that he liked to play. "Please... don't," MacNeil said, all of his previous anger gone.

"If you don't like her being a spy, why should I not be able to make her an assassin?"

"No...I'm sorry. She can be a spy. Just please, not an assassin..."

Magnus paused for a few seconds, relishing in his control over MacNeil. "Well, I see that we have that settled. If you're fine with her being a spy, then I don't see why you need to be here," Magnus said dismissively, ushering at the door.

MacNeil left the room in silence. The two guards smirked at him, obviously picking up on the fact that his meeting had not gone very well.

MacNeil grabbed his sword from them, and left without a word. He began to walk towards the training area, hoping to get rid of his frustration there. No one wanted to fight him; they all knew that they would just end up looking like fools, so he turned towards the practice dummies at the far side of the area. As he began swinging his sword with as much force as possible, he thought about how much of a mess his life was in.

They had taken his wife, his country, and his friends, and had left him here to rot away while training the Genovesans and their recruited criminals. All that was keeping him here was _her_, and Magnus knew that all too well. What was worse, though, was that she didn't even know. Magnus had forbidden him from speaking with her except for training purposes. MacNeil was glad that he was able to see her some of the time, but it broke his heart that Keira didn't even know that she was his daughter. But he loved her regardless, and that love was what Magnus had reined in and put on a leash; something that he was able to control MacNeil with. MacNeil only hoped that the Rangers found out about this small rebel group before it was too late. He was worried about what Magnus might do to Keira, and there was no way for him to stop it without making it worse for her.

**I hope that made sense... I was kinda writing this chapter in a hurry because I don't have a lot of time, but I hope it turned out the way I wanted it to...Next chapter will be back in Keira's POV! **


	12. Chapter 11

**So...It's been quite a while since I've updated. Sorry about that - school got to be really stressful. But now that I'm FREE, updates should come much more often!**

**Also, a big thank you to Seriya Silvermist for coming up with the name Airis for Keira's horse. I thought that it was a perfect name for him! **

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Chapter 11

Keira had been travelling southward towards Celtica for several days without incident and without running into any Rangers. She had stayed well away from the main road, choosing instead to follow small animal trails through the forest. The horse which she had met in the field had followed her the whole way, keeping her company and improving her mood. She had been pondering on a name for him for some time before she had finally decided on calling him Airis.

Keira had ridden Airis only once, when they had been travelling across another stretch of open field. She had had no saddle, but riding bareback she had found that Airis was faster than any horse she had ever known. However, the rest of the time, Airis had plodded quietly beside her, content to walk at her pace.

After being on the trail for almost a week, Keira was beginning to get tired of the same old burnt food and rations that she had been living off of. At her evening meal, she bit into the dried and burnt meat of a rabbit that she had caught the previous day and promptly spit it back out.

"Blech! If I ever have to eat another burnt meal that I've made, I think I'd rather starve."

Airis looked up from the patch of grass on which he had been contentedly grazing on, and gave her a look as if to say "_You know, it would probably taste a lot better if you didn't burn it all the time." _

Keira huffed. "Thank you, for those kind words of wisdom," she said, giving him a glare. "I'd like to see you try and cook a meal without burning it."

Airis flicked his ears at her and gave her another look. "_Why should I? I've got all the delicious grass I need right here. You should try some, it's great!" _As if to prove his point, he took another large mouthful of grass and started chewing.

"Uh...no thanks," Keira said, eying the grass doubtfully.

Airis flicked his ears at her again. "_Your loss."_

Keira sighed leaning back against a tree, and massaged her head. "I think I need to get back into civilization. I've begun talking to a horse."

"_I don't see why that's a bad thing. Horses have a great sense of humour," _Airis seemed to say as he looked up at her from his grazing. "_But if you're looking for civilization, there's a town about half a day's walk south from here." _

"Why didn't you tell me that before!?"

"_You never asked." _

Keira harrumphed at his reply. However, the thought a reaching a town the following day set her mind spinning. Her mouth was watering already at the thought of having a well cooked meal at a nice cozy inn, and buying provisions for the rest of the trip.

"What do you think about wearing a saddle?" Keira asked Airis, pondering on whether the wild horse would agree to wear one. She would probably be able to find someone selling them in the town, and with one on, they would be able to travel much faster.

The brown and black spotted stallion raised his head to look at her again. "_As long as it complements the lovely colours of my coat, and doesn't subtract from my naturally good looks." _

"Well someone's a little egotistical I see," Keira muttered in response. With that, she put out the small campfire, and went to sleep.

The following day, she and Airis walked the remaining half-day to reach the town. In the outskirts of the town, she instructed Airis to stay in the general area, and told him that she would be back the following day. The stallion had found a nice patch of fresh, sweet grass and had readily agreed to stay there.

As Keira walked into the town, she kept a close eye out for any Rangers. She knew that they would have probably been looking for her after she escaped, and she wasn't sure if they had caught her trail. She was on the run, and she would have to be careful of anyone that she met. It was early evening, and most of the shops were closed, but she did manage to buy a few food provisions as one of the shop merchants was just in the process of closing up for the night.

She rounded a street corner, contentedly munching on the fresh non-burnt food, when she saw one of the Rebels from the fortress. She stopped in her tracks, staring down the street at them. It was Tirac, once of the older spies, who had never missed any chance to annoy her when they had been back in Celtica. He had been a bandit before joining the rebel group of Genovesans.

Keira scowled as he spotted her and approached her. Once he got closer, though, she saw that he wasn't sporting his usual self-centred smirk, and instead seemed quite agitated about something.

"What?" She snapped at his as he walked into earshot.

She expected his response to be full of sarcasm and scorn, but instead he pulled her aside to the edge of the street, and spoke urgently. "Listen, I don't know why you're here, but you shouldn't be. You've gotten yourself into too much trouble, and now you're going to get us all found out."

Keira was bewildered. "What are you talking about? I've been sent on a mission just like you, I presume. I have every right to be here."

"I _know_ you've been sent out on a mission. But you've screwed it up." His eyes flashed with anger. "There are two Rangers sitting in the tavern just down the road, asking everybody if they've seen _you_. If they know you're here, then you're done for."

Keira blinked. "Oh." She had been right about to walk into the tavern up the road before Tirac had confronted her.

"How are we supposed to capture two Rangers when they're surrounded by people?" Tirac muttered to himself.

"We?' You mean there's more of you?"

"Chass and Jaron are in the tavern," Tirac replied absentmindedly, still pondering over his predicament. Chass and Jaron were Tirac's two sidekicks who followed him around everywhere. And their attitudes were no better than his.

"And Magnus told you to capture two Rangers?"

Tirac was beginning to get annoyed at the barrage of question. "Yes, he told us to capture those two from Redmont; Walt and Hill - or whatever their names are."

"Walt and Hill." Keira repeated, the edges of her lips twitching upwards. "I see. And how do you plan to go about capturing them?"

"We'll...fight them," Tirac responded.

"Yes, because I'm sure that they'll let you get within ten metres with those bows of theirs," Keira said dryly. "Why would you want to fight them when you could just use...this?" she said, pulling out a small vial from a pocket of her cloak.

Tirac inspected the light green contents inside the vial. "Is that...Aerthan Nectar?" The nectar of the small blossoms of the Aerthan flower was known for its ability to cause anyone who ingested it to start feeling drowsy within minutes.

"Yep," Keira replied, giving him the vial. "I bet that if you were to slip some of that into say...the Ranger's coffee? Then you'd have two captured Rangers in no time."

Tirac nodded, a smug smile growing on his face. It was soon replaced by a frown though. "How...how am I going to get them out of the tavern? If they fall asleep on their table people are going to start asking questions. "

"I'll provide a distraction, don't worry," Keira said, a plan already hatched within her mind.

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**Yah, it's a bit short, I know, but it was getting really late when I was writing this and I wanted to update for you guys. Next chapter should come soon! **

**Review are always appreciated...**


	13. Chapter 12

**Yay! A new chapter! :)**

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Chapter 12

It had started raining lightly, causing Keira to huddle further into the small dark overhang which she had been standing under for some time. The sun was beginning to set and the shadows were growing longer as the darkness crept in to push away the sun's light.

The plan had been for Tirac to subtly slip some of the Aerthan Nectar into the Ranger's coffee without them knowing while Keira waited outside the tavern until he gave the signal for her to provide the distraction. However, it was cold and wet outside, and the whole plan was starting to seem sour to Keira as she was kept waiting outside. She shivered and huddled into her cloak, trying to draw any fading warmth from it. Her mind began to wander to possible mishaps that could have happened inside the tavern. Perhaps the Rangers had noticed what had been put in their drinks and had captured Tirac and the others. Her doubts grew further with each passing minute that she had to wait outside.

Finally, the tavern door creaked open letting the light and boisterous sound spill out into the dark street. Keira's hand moved towards the sword at her hip, as she made out a cloaked figure emerging from the building. She wasn't sure who it was, and she wasn't going to be taking any chances. As the figure drew closer though, she could see that it was Tirac and not a Ranger.

"It took you long enough!" Keira said. Her nerves had been set on edge, and she couldn't help speaking fiercer than she had intended.

"Had to wait for them to order more coffee. The nectar's in there, and they don't suspect anything," Tirac grunted at her.

"Ok," Keira answered, releasing a breath of relief. "I'll lead them to the place we agreed on."

"You'd better. If you don't..." Tirac said menacingly, cracking his knuckles.

Keira scowled. "If I don't, then I have bigger problems to worry about than you."

With that, she left the safety of the shadows under the overhang, and approached that tavern door on silent feet. Her plan was to attract the attention of Will and Halt, then lead them on a chase that would take them away from the spying eyes of other people. Then it would be up to the nectar to save her skin.

Her heart was already pounding as she pushed open the door to the tavern. As she stepped inside, she threw off the hood of her cloak, revealing her face. Her searching eyes had already located where the two Rangers sat, and her eyes locked with theirs. Quicker than she would have thought possible, they had their bows ready and drawn.

Keira quickly retraced her footsteps out of the tavern. Muffled shouts from inside the tavern could be heard as the Rangers followed in pursuit. Her feet seemed to take on a mind of their own as the chase began through the matrix of streets in the town. She could hear the Rangers hot in pursuit of her, their footfalls slowly growing closer as they gained ground on her.

She quickly wove left and right, her path taking her through the multiple streets and alleyways. No arrows whizzed by her, which she took as a good sign that the Rangers did not want her injured. On several occasions she almost slipped and fell on the wet cobblestones, but managed to regain her footing just in time. After continuing like this for several minutes, Keira changed her course to take her to the small alleyway where they had agreed to meet.

Keira skidded to a halt as the alley abruptly ended in front of her. It was here that Tirac had told her to lead the two Rangers, however she saw no sign of the former bandit and his two mates. No matter, she thought to herself. The nectar would kick in soon enough.

Halt and Will both had their bows drawn and arrows pointed straight at her. "Drop your weapons," Halt said in a commanding voice. "You've no place left to run."

"Actually, I think you'll find that I'm not quite as cornered as you may think," Keira said, trying to stall for time as her eyes darted around the area. There was still no sign that Tirac was anywhere near.

An arrow whizzed by her face, shattering on the stone behind her. "Don't try to play any games with me," Halt said. Another arrow was already notched and drawn on his bow. Keira blinked in surprise at how fast the grizzled old Ranger was able to reload his bow. She slowly unbuckled her sword from her belt and put it on the ground beside her.

"And the knife in your boot too," Halt said, gesturing at her left foot with his bow. She scowled, but took it out and put it on the ground as well.

_Anytime now_, she thought to herself, beginning to get panicked. What if Tirac actually hadn't put any nectar into their drinks?

The younger Ranger, Will stepped forward to pick up the two weapons. However, in doing so, he stumbled to the side, and stuck out his arm to support himself on the stone wall.

"Will? What happened? Are you okay?" Worry and suspicion were laced into Halt's voice.

"M...fine. Just...dizzy," Will said, slurring his words slightly. A frown was creased onto Halt's forehead. His bow was still drawn and aimed at Keira. All of a sudden, he lurched to the side, the ranged weapon falling from his hands and clattering onto the cold, wet ground. The legs of both Rangers seemed to have given out, and they were both leaning on the sides of the alleyway.

"What did you do?" Halt asked, panicked.

"Oh, nothing much...Maybe just a bit of Aerthan Nectar slipped into your coffee...I mean, it's not like it's poisonous or anything, so don't worry. It'll just knock you out for a few hours."

"What?" said Will. "The coffee? But... _How could you_!? The coffee!"

While Will was moaning over the expoitation of his coffee, Halt had other things going through his mind. "Genovesans!" he spat out, suddenly coming to the realization after piecing together the use of poisons.

Keira pursed her lips and remained silent. The full force of the nectar was kicking in now, and both Rangers were almost fully unconscious. Out of the shadows further down in the alleyway, three figures approached. Keira rolled her eyes as she made out the three figures as Tirac, and his two thug buddies, Chass and Jaron. She would have bet anything that they had been waiting there to see if the nectar had actually worked, and had been holding off in case something went wrong. What a bunch of cowards, Keira thought.

"Ah, I see that my plan worked." Tirac said.

"_My _plan," Keira corrected him under her breath, scowling.

"Let's get this Ranger scum loaded up," he said, kicking the unconscious form of Halt, and completely ignoring Keira, who was still standing in the same spot.

Chass and Jaron brought forward a small farmer's cart and lifted the two limp forms onto the back, then covered them up with hay. The small party left the town under the cover of darkness, returning to the road so as to avoid any questions in the town the following day. Keira was able to nick a saddle from one of the stable in the town. She went back to fetch Airis, and found him still contentedly munching on the sweet grass.

"Why did you have to come back so soon?" he whinnied. "I could eat this grass all night!"

"Shh!" Keira said, he nerves still on edge from earlier. "We have to leave. We've captured two Rangers and now we've got to go back to Celtica with some others."

"Others?" Airis asked, his ears perking up in curiosity.

"You'll see," she whispered. "Just be nice, because they might not be the kindest."

Keira still had her doubts about travelling with them, but knew that if would be inevitable since they were going back to the same place anyways. She thought back to how Nayomi had told her that the Rangers would only be her enemy if she made them her enemy. Well, she had certainly made them her enemy, but she wasn't so sure that they were all as cruel as she had been trained to view them as. After all, they had had plenty of chances to send an arrow through her, but here she was, still whole.

She shook her head, trying to shake out the doubts that were slowly creeping into her mind.

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**So... what did you think? I was having a bit of trouble writing this chapter, so if anyone has any tips for me to improve my writing, they would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! **


	14. Chapter 13

**So, I'm not really sure why it took me so long to write this chapter. My apologies though, I really was hoping on writing it earlier. Hopefully I should have the next chapter out this week. Anyways, I decided to answer some guest reviews here:**

**BluePlumSoup: Ah, now that you mention that I can really see it. It probably happens because I try to write my chapters all in one go, and then get tired near the end... :( I'll try to fix it though. **

**Ranger Shelby: I wasn't planning on doing a chapter from Crowley's point of view, but I probably could if you wanted me to. **

**Also thank you so much to everyone else who reviewed! I now have over 50 reviews, and that's pretty awesome! **

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Chapter 13

The steady rain had finally stopped, leaving Keira and the other Genovesans shivering from a sudden drop in temperature. The small group trudged along the muddy road, pulling along the small cart that held the unconscious bodies of the two Rangers as they slept off the Aerthan Nectar. They were looking for a place to set up their camp for the night, but wanted to make as much distance as possible from the village in case anyone went around asking question about two missing Rangers. The sun had already set, and the lighting was getting poorer every second.

Finally, they found a small clearing a little ways from the main road and quickly set up their camp. Chass, the bulkiest of the three Genovesans whom Keira had met up with earlier, was given the task of tying up the rangers. The limp forms were unceremoniously dumped onto the muddy ground, and then dragged over to separate trees where they were tied up.

There would be no fire tonight for the ragtag group of Genovesans, as all the wood in the forest had gotten soaked from the recent rain. Grumbling, they set up their tents, and withdrew into them to seek the little warmth and comfort that they offered. The two Rangers were left outside to face the heartless cold of the night.

The following morning, Keira woke with the sunrise, and crept out of her tent into the cool morning air. Chass was the only one awake as well. He had already built a small fire for their breakfast.

When he saw her, he grunted, "Cook breakfast," pointing at the fire and the pack of provisions beside it.

Keira arched one of her eyebrows up to the sky. "You want me to cook?"

"Yes," the thug answered. "You are a girl, aren't you?"

"I suppose I am," Keira answered with mock cheerfulness, although on the inside she was seething with anger. If they wanted to eat whatever burnt concoction she could make, she was fine with that.

She put a pot of water on the fire to start with, hoping that she would be able to make something with that. While she was waiting, she glanced over at Will and Halt, who had slept off the effects of the nectar, and were shivering from the cold air. They had been given no blanket or any other cover, and Keira felt a twang of sympathy for them run through her.

"Water..." Will croaked from a parched throat. "Need...water..."

Keira had forgotten how the after effects of Aerthan nectar often left its victims parched. Tirac had just emerged from filling a water bucket from a nearby stream, and had overheard Will's plea.

"Ah, the little twig wants some water, does he?" he sneered. Tirac took the heavy water bucket that he was carrying and dumped it over Will's head. "How's that for some water?" he said, and walked away laughing.

"You're gonna make him die from hypothermia!" Keira yelled at Tirac. The drenched Will was now shivering uncontrollably.

Tirac just shrugged and said, "Whatever. I'm sure he won't die."

Keira glared at his retreating back. When he was gone, she went over to Halt and Will and let them drink from their flasks of water. Throughout the entire morning Halt hadn't said a single word, but now he spoke up.

"I think your water is burning," he said, gesturing at the pot of water over the fire.

Keira cursed, and took the pot off of the fire. Indeed, most of the water had boiled over, and a foul burning smell was coming off of the pot. She shook her head in disbelief at her complete lack of skill in cooking.

"Meh... oh well." She thought to herself, and tossed some assorted foods in the pot and stirred them together. "Breakfast's ready!" she called out.

Needless to say, the three other Genovesans vowed to never allow her to cook a meal for them again after that morning, and up until lunch the whole party's stomachs were grumbling.

After breakfast, they packed up camp and continued along the road toward Celtica. The Ranger's cloaks were swapped for simple clothes, and instead, Tirac and Chass took their places within the mottled green cloaks. To the average traveller passing by, it would look as if there were two Rangers with two companions, Keira and Jaron, who were escorting two prisoners. The cart that had previously carried the captive Rangers had been left behind, forcing the two to walk instead.

Further on into the day, after they had been plodding along for quite some time, Airis decided to begin voicing his complaints about their company.

"They smell bad," Airis told Keira as the group was travelling through a lightly forested area of the road.

She subtly rolled her eyes. "I think my horse picked up a stone. I'm just going to stop to check, you guys can keep going," Keira told the others. When she finally fell out of earshot from the others, she replied, "They may smell bad, but I've got to stay with them in order to make it back to Celtica."

Airis snorted at her. "You don't have to stay with them. I could get you to Celtica in half the time of those other filthy horses."

Keira sighed at her horse. "I know. But I want to stay with them," she replied stoutly.

The young stallion turned his head around to look at her. "Is there something you aren't telling me?"

"Well... In all honesty, if I leave them, I don't think that both Rangers will make it back to Celtica alive."

Airis snorted in agreement. "I think I like those Ranger folk better than I like those thug folk."

Although she didn't say it, Keira realised that she did too. Trying to shake her mind out of it, she brought Airis back into a gallop to catch up with the others.

The day was brutally hot, and Keira soon realized that she didn't envy those wearing the Ranger cloaks one bit. When evening finally came and they found a place to camp, the entire group was worn out and grumpy from the heat. After dinner had been cooked (by Jaron and not Keira), they finally had a chance to rest from their wearisome day.

Chass, who had become incredibly grumpy from the day's heat, was however not quite in the mood to rest. "I heard some rumours that you were fairly good with that sword of yours," he said, gesturing with a hand to the sword that lay at Keira's hip

Keira raised an eyebrow. "Ya. And what about them?" she asked, on her guard.

"I didn't believe any of them. You're just a girl - I doubt that you could beat an old man armed with only a stick," he sneered at her.

Keira sprung up from her seat, rage flickering like flames in her eyes. "Oh ya? I dare you to duel me! I bet you couldn't beat a small girl like me with that oafish brain of yours." She had allowed her anger to get the better of her, and now she began to calm down a bit more. She didn't have any doubts that she could beat Chass in a duel, but she'd have to make sure he didn't play on her temper.

Chass smirked at her and picked up his sword. The area for their camp was cleared to make more space for their duel. Keira unsheathed her sword from its scabbard, and waved it around experimentally, although she already knew its weight and balance by heart and instinct.

All of a sudden, Chass charged her, making a long sweeping stroke with his sword. The stroke was accompanied with an enormous amount of force, and Chass hoped that it would be the force of the swing that would cause Keira to drop her weapon.

It was, however, a rookie move, as he had not expected Keira to dance back lightly on her feet, allowing the sword to pass within inches of her and continue on its way. Since there was no resisting parry of blades, the momentum carried the sword away and out of play. With snake like precision, Keira darted forwards and twisted her sword under his, causing it to twist out of his grasp and clatter onto the hard ground.

The two fighters stood there, frozen for a moment, as Chass' brain came to the delayed realization that he had just been beaten within a few seconds. Keira felt that if she said anything, she might regret it in future days, so she simply inclined her head towards him and walked away.

A gaze on her back caused her to turn around again, this time facing the two tied up Rangers. Halt was starting at her, and for a moment she saw an odd emotion cross his usually emotionless mask, but it was gone before she could identify it. Still, the scrutinizing gaze unsettled her. It felt as though the grizzled Ranger was trying to figure her out, and he had just gotten one more piece to the puzzle.

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**The next chapter will be more exciting, but I can't tell you what will happen so you'll just have to wait to find out! **


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